Project Gray: Johto
by jessejames0614
Summary: The horrifying effects of Kanto's Project Gray are being leaked over little by little into the Johto region. Copper isn't a champion, a gym leader, or a well rounded trainer, and he doesn't even have a well balanced team, but it's up to him to overcome his weaknesses, even if the odds are always seemingly against him.
1. Chapter 1

"Chaos has swept through Celedon as the game corner was demolished by an unknown terrorist on what seemed to be a large flying Pokémon. The identity and motive of this terrorist has yet to be discovered, but officials say they are on the case."

"I was watching from the balcony of my Cafe" said a middle aged man whom was being interviewed on the news. "It looked like a large dragon with a rider, and it shot a beam from it's mouth!"

The camera on the TV then changed to another person being interviewed about the event. "I believe it was some sort of legendary Pokémon, cause there's no way a normal Pokémon could pack that kind of power!"

The news program then showed the station's desk reporter. "Kanto's newly elected government is issuing a search on all trainers with legendary Pokémon to find the culprit. Police officials say that it was not any of the current elite four, or Kanto's Gym leaders."

The TV then shut off, and the remote to the device was lazily dropped onto the table. A boy stood up from the seat and stretched out his arms slightly. He was dressed in a red and white striped shirt, with a brown sack diagonal around his shoulder. He wore a hat with visor facing forward, and somewhat baggy tan shorts that extended past his knees.

"Copper!" A voice shouted from outside the house.

A window was open and the cool breeze of the air was felt as it swooped into the house. The boy inside turned around to face the window and the source of the noise. It was a boy close to his age, with peculiar white hair. He was dressed much more warmly than Copper, with a red jacket and pants but a white shirt under his jacket. Copper trotted towards the front door of his small home and opened it for his guest.

"Allen, what's up bro?" asked the supposed home owner.

"I got something really rare in the Ice Path yesterday. You are going to flip out." The white haired guest had a large grin on his face with furrowed eyebrows of confidence.

Copper stepped outside and closed the door behind him. He took a quick look around his small town of which he lived in. Three large paths made exit ways out into the wilderness, one leading in every linear direction except south. To the north was the infamous Lake of Rage, where fishing enthusiasts tended to gather.

To the east was a large ice filled cave that proved dangerous unless you were the town's local Gym leader or one of it's members. For that reason, many residents joined the Mahogany Gym and studied the ice type, as the Ice Path provided the most danger out of the surrounding areas. The last path, to the west, led people towards Ecruteak City, but also had a small cave to explore.

"Well, let's see it!" said the hat wearing boy with dirty orange hair. He had a stern grin on his face, as if he was challenging the other boy.

Allen threw a Pokéball at the ground and out popped a two legged weasel like Pokémon. Its fur was dark and he had one large red ear while the other was cat sized and black like the rest of it's body. It's tail was also red, appearing as just three red feathers.

"Whoa, a Sneasel? How the heck did you get that?" Asked Copper with much amazement.

"You just gotta look hard enough" said Allen while he crossed his arms and shut his eyes with pride.

Copper shoved his hands into his pockets and just stared down in awe at the moderately rare Pokémon. "If you train it, you might even stand a chance against Claire" he muttered quietly.

"Probably" answered Allen while he raised the empty Pokéball and drew the Sneasel back into it's spherical chamber. "I'm going to take on Pryce today. My team is ready."

Copper felt a wave of guilt and discomfort pass through his body. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'll bet you could probably do it. You train really hard."

"Care to join me? You could watch and learn a thing or two" said Allen with a smug grin.

The white haired boy began to head towards the Ice Gym, which was not a far walk from Copper's home. The town was rather small after all. Once they entered, it was as if they were in the Ice Path itself. Ice covered the floor, walls and the ceiling. Copper took one step onto the floor and found himself slipping and almost falling over. Allen merely shook his head with a snicker at the display of Copper's supposed weakness.

"I've beaten every member in this gym, and now i'm ready to take on Pryce" Allen stated, and then walked across the Ice heading straight for the Gym leader's platform. Copper followed behind, occasionally losing his balance from the ice.

"Where the heck is..." asked Allen, but his question faded into nothing before he could answer it. The boy looked around but found no trace of the elderly gym leader. In fact, nobody in the gym was training, they were all just standing around and talking to each other, and they looked worried.

Copper and Allen looked at each other with slight confusion, then headed towards the nearest group of gym members. They turned to the boys with wide eyes and looks of weariness on their face.

"What happened to Pryce?" asked Allen, more or less in a tone of annoyance rather than worry.

One of the members shook his head and the others merely shrugged. "We haven't seen him in more than a day. He's not home, not here, so we assumed he was in the Ice Path."

Allen shook his head, dismissing the idea. "No, I was just there. I explored every last inch to find the rarest Pokémon I could find, and he was definitely not in there."

Copper seemed to be just looking between Allen and the party as they conversed. He truly didn't know how to interact, but it did make him worry as well about the state of the Ice master.

The two boys left the gym together and pondered in silence as they walked side by side through the small town. "You don't think this has anything to do with the Kanto incidents, do you?" asked Copper to his older friend.

"What do you mean? Why would it?" asked Allen with a suspicious glare towards his companion.

"The news was talking about Kanto issuing licensed Gym Leaders a mandatory hunt on all Pokémon trainers with legendary Pokémon. Maybe he went to help them look?" suggested the younger boy, but Allen was quick to turn his head away in dismissal.

"Gramps wouldn't leave without saying goodbye..."

Just then, a loud sharp sound pierced the boys' ears. It was high pitched and seemed to grow louder and volume as it continued to tear across the sky. A white blur flew so quick, it appeared as nothing more than a shooting star falling in the mid of day. It passed over Mahogany and flew far, far into the mountains which were bluer in tint due to the immense distance between them and their town.

When the object passed, so did it's sound, and it seemed to lower in pitch as it flew further away. As the boys watched even closer, they could just barely see a tiny fire erupt and go out where the white streak had supposedly smashed into the mountain.

"What.. the.. heck.." muttered Copper as he stood in almost shock.

He and Allen just looked at each other with wide eyes and dropped jaws. "What was that?!" they both shouted in question at the same time.

"I think... I think that was gramps!" shouted Allen with a hint of worry under his words.

"What? On what? He doesn't have any flying ice Pokémon, does he?" asked Copper tensely.

"I don't know, but it flew right over us." Allen stated, still staring in the direction of Mt. Silver where the white object crashed. "We have to find out. He could be in trouble."

Allen began to hurry his way towards route 44, where he often trained, and towards the Ice Path. Copper quickly followed behind him, still trying to converse with him. "This could be related to the Kanto incidents! It could be people with legendary Pokémon being hunted down!" but Allen paid no mind to such a theory.

The two quickly reached the beginning of the Ice Path and stopped at it's entrance. Copper's eyes widened at the sight of the cave and he stepped back slowly.

"I.. I don't know, Allen..." he said with worry. "I don't have the type advantages to survive in here."

Allen turned over his shoulder and looked towards the troubled teen. "Of course you don't. Your Tangela will be frozen solid. That's why you need me with my Charmeleon. We can melt any Ice foes in our path." Allen said with a smug grin on his face..

They slowly entered the sparkling cool cave and were soon hit with the intense cold that littered it's halls.


	2. Chapter 2

The dry, windless air of the icy cave made Copper feel as if his skin had hardened. His eyes stung so he kept them open only slightly, and a red hue was beginning to underline his lids. Luckily, it wasn't very dark. Something about the ice crystals made the tiniest amount of light bounce off all the walls and light up the entire cave.

Copper held both elbows with his hands and hunched forward while hugging his arms against his torso. Shivering was inevitable, but being that it was a cave, there was little oxygen so running out of breath was not an option. Allen remained upright and mostly unaffected by the cave's elements.

"Let's get a move on, already!" He said with an annoyed tone. Clearly Copper's inexperience in the icy environment wasn't favored by the white haired trainer.

Copper tried to hurry himself along so he could keep up with Allen, but the cave was littered with dangerous Pokemon around every turn. Zubat were hanging from the ceiling, watching as the two trainers entered their territory. Then, one of the indigo hued bats flew down and crashed into Copper's arm as it was raised to guard himself.

Allen quickly turned about and released his Magnemite from its Pokeball. "Don't just let them walk all over you, Copper! Show them who's boss!" Allen commanded.

Copper scrambled through his belt before pulling off a Pokeball and summoning the creature from within. Tangela appeared and readied itself for battle.

The Zubat latched onto Tangela and with its fangs drew matter out of the vine Pokemon, sucking its life in the process. A venom was released in its place and Tangela soon felt the poisonous effects. Tangela was poisoned!

"Thundershock, now!" commanded Allen from afar. Magnemite began to glow with a rich yellow light. It than shot all of its energy at the foe Zubat, shocking it and rendering it paralysed.

The sudden flash of light caused all the other Zubat to come flying down one by one, each attempting to latch itself onto the Magnemite. Their teeth attempted to penetrate it's hard metallic exterior, but proved not very effective.

"Again, thundershock!" commanded the white haired trainer, and the Magnemite exploded with a loud, shrieking yellow light that blasted through all of the Zubat that engulfed it, shocking them and rendering them fainted on the floor of the cavern.

Copper simply watched in awe at the display of power while he held his poisoned Tangela close to himself.

Allen's gaze then lowered down to his companion and the weakened Pokemon and he shook his head. "What were you doing? Grass is weak to poison. You should never send out a Pokemon with a type weak to your foe's!" He planted his hand against his face, shielding his eyes, and he shook his head.

Tangela was returned to its Pokeball, but continued to feel the effects of poison. Copper planted his hands on his knees and pushed himself back up to his feet.

"Hang in there, pal. We'll get to a Pokemon Center in Blackthorn and Tangela will be healed" Allen said reassuringly while his hand gently patted Copper's back.

They moved onward, and deeper into the cave. So far the ground was but a hard rock, and the only ice were the crystals formed along the cave walls. Once they reached the end of a tunnel though, they entered a large chamber with a massive ice floor.

"It took me awhile, but I know the pattern to get through this, just follow my lead" Allen instructed.

Copper merely stared down at the ice and flashed back to being inside Pryce's gym. "You sure know what you are doing, Allen." Copper said sheepishly.

"Of course I do. My Pokemon's types are strong to the Pokemon in this cave, so I have the advantage" replied the white haired trainer with a confident grin.

The boys slipped along the icy floor until they resumed on hard stone ground throughout the rest of the cave. Copper leaned forward and began to let out short, heavy breaths.

"We need water..." he said in a dry, gasping tone. He reached into his belt and withdrew another Pokeball, the second one in his possession. Out of it appeared a small mouse pokemon that was blue with a white belly. "Marill, how about some water?" begged the young trainer.

Marill opened its mouth and produced a clean stream of water like a fountain, but just as Copper leaned down to take a sip, the stream froze entirely. Marill hopped back and whined as its ears lowered and lips curled into a frown.

"It's too cold in here for water" said Allen, who was a few yards ahead. "Blackthorn has a pond behind Claire's gym, we can refresh there."

Copper moved his tongue all around the inside of his mouth, attempting to keep it moist, but it was difficult fighting the dry atmosphere of the cave. "I always thought ice and water were closely related. I didn't expect to dehydrate in a climate like this..." Copper muttered to himself.

The echoes of the cave were so pronounced, that the cries of Pokemon a mile away could be heard as the sound waves bounced off the walls. "Hear that?" asked Allen with a perked grin. "Jynx..." the white haired boy whispered.

They crept around a corner and found two Jynx with a Smoochum between them. Both Jynx were undoubtedly female so they weren't mommy and daddy, but it was possible one of them might be the mommy of the Smoochum they were with. "Jynx is great. Both Ice and Psychic. You could knock out so many types with that... Fighting, Poison, Grass, Flying, Rock, Ground, Bug, Dragon, and the resist to Water, wow" Allen rambled on while eying the dual type Pokemon.

"We don't have time, Allen!" whispered Copper in a high priority tone. "Tangela is poisoned, I'm dehydrated, and Pryce may need our help on Mt. Silver!" The upset boy pushed off from his position and walked out into the opening where the Jynx could plainly see him.

Although he was in plain sight, he appeared to be walked passed the Jynx and not towards them, and they did eye him carefully.

Allen however grumbled and thrashed out of the hiding place. He stomped through the Jynx nest, not taking it upon himself to avoid them by any means like Copper did. When he stepped just a little too close to the Smoochum, one of the Jynx furrowed its eyes in an angry manner and suddenly lunged forward towards the white haired trainer.

Its fist collided with Allen's side, causing ice to form on his body where the blow was struck. He flew back and let out a groan in pain while his body was hurled across the cave.

Copper turned around and gasped as he saw his friend get pummeled by the upset Jynx. "Allen!" he shouted, and the sudden noise caused the other Jynx to shoot its gaze upon the red headed boy. It began to run after him, and Copper soon took notice of the incoming Pokemon and he began to blindly step away out of fear.

Suddenly the floor seemed to disappear behind him. A large hole in the floor caused the young trainer to fall back and come crashing down onto the lower level of the cave. The Jynx did not follow.

When Copper came to his senses, he noticed he was in an entirely new section of the cave, and Allen was nowhere to be seen. He slowly rose to his feet and stepped back into a wall, which he leaned against. His eyes scanned the cavern, and he discovered it was darker than the upper level of the path.

The entire chamber he had fallen into was mostly covered in ice, with a few stray boulders that had crashed down onto the surface. Copper looked above them and noticed other holes in the ceiling where the boulders must have fallen from. When he looked down he noticed that he was on an "island" of rock on the far side of a frozen pond, and there was another rock floored platform in the center of the said floor of ice, and on it a ladder heading back up to the higher level. It seemed it was Copper's only means of returning.


	3. Chapter 3

Copper kicked off from the platform and glided across the icy floor before skating directly into one of the boulders. He lifted his hands up to try and brace the impact, but he still ended up hitting the object with great force, making him grunt, and spraining his wrists a little. When he got his bearings, he stood up and looked for the next boulder he might be able to dash to.

He kicked off again and slid on his feet, with knees bent and arms forward with preparation to brace himself against the next boulder. Something perked his attention though, he skated right passed the boulder he thought he was heading for, and instead landed back on the starting platform he fell on. When reaching the land, he stumbled and nearly fell forward. His arms flailed to keep his balance, and although he leaned very far forward, he ended remaining on his feet.

After getting his bearings, Copper stood up straight and turned to look at the puzzle he had to figure out on his own. He felt his heart race and heavy breaths of fatigue kept dry air flowing in and out of his mouth, drying it ever more.

He skated off again, but this time headed in another direction from the first boulder, this time ending up at another that gave him a few more directions he might be able to skate in. He studied each direction with care before ultimately making his decision. Luckily, his next few choices had him sliding directly towards the center platform that beared a ladder back up to the top level.

Once he finally made it, he leaned forward on his knees, and desperately tried to catch his breath. His lungs felt as if they were within two chambers that were squeezing them and preventing them from expanding to their full size. His mouth was dry, and tongue was desperately trying to remoisten it. He closed his eyes, and for a moment it felt as if his eyeballs were blanketed from the cold air.

When his eyes reopened he notice a small piglike Pokémon charging towards him with aggression. He had intruded onto its territory, like the zubat before. He scrambled for his Pokéballs, and sent out Tangela, the first in his lineup.

As Tangela was summoned, its appearance caused a gasp from Copper. Its eyes were bloodshot, and it was limp from the life draining effects of poison. Although it was at near perfect condition when it was originally poisoned, it had now felt half of its energy drain. Still, the loyal Pokémon shook off its slumped stance and readied itself for battle.

Copper was fearful though, the attacking Pokémon was ice type, and tangela was grass, but he truly had no choice. "Tangela, sleep powder!" He ordered with anxiety.

The grass type Pokémon sprayed a powder onto the wild Swinub, which sent it into a very light sleep. "Now, wrap!" Tangela threw its vines around the enemy, and with each turn, squeezed it with might. The effects of wrap whittled away at the enemy's fighting spirit, but with each squeeze Tangela felt the painful effects of the poison. "It may not be a fire attack, but at least it's doing something." the young trainer muttered to himself.

It was squeeze after squeeze with Tangela's own vines before the enemy awoke and broke free of the attack. Swinub blew out an Icy Wind, which froze away at Tangela's vine like body, causing it immense damage, but not ultimately defeating it, yet.

Copper could sense Tangela's life force was dwindling down though, and surely one more blow would knock out his grass Pokémon. Just as Copper was about to yell out the next command, Tangela felt the poison knock it out of consciousness. Copper returned it to its Pokéball while gritting his teeth together in worry.

"Only one left" he whispered to himself with worry. He withdrew his final Pokémon, Marill, whom proved of little use earlier in the cave.

Swinub stayed still, simply eyeing down Marill intensely, so Copper ordered his Pokémon to tackle it head on. Unfortunately, Swinub endured the attack, and countered with Take Down, hitting Marill and causing it to fly back with injuries. The attack also seemed to have taken a slight toll on Swinub itself, which combined with Tangela's efforts, seemed to have reduced its health quite a bit.

"Marill.. you alright?" Copper asked from a few yards away. His Marill hopped back up and growled at the enemy, nodding slightly to confirm its condition. "Water Gun" he ordered. The Marill shot a stream of water at Swinub, but in mid air, the water solidified and became ice itself, which smashed into the enemy Pokémon.

Swinub felt the ice hit with little worry, but the blow still caused it a sliver of damage anyway. It's next attack was Icy Wind, which blew against Marill and Copper both. Copper raised his arms and covered his face from the onslaught of the cold wind, but Marill took it head on with resistance to the element.

"Rollout, now!" Copper commanded from behind his arm, which was still guarding his mouth.

Marill rolled up into a ball and slammed hard into Swinub, knocking it out cold. Marill then uncurled and hopped up and down happily, bearing just a mere scratch from the previous attack.

"Great job, Marill" said Copper with a relieved smile, which was short lived once he looked down and saw the Pokéball containing the fainted Tangela. He returned Marill to its Pokéball and then turned to face the ladder which he had been trying so hard to reach.

"Finally..." he whispered and clamped down his bare hand onto the cold metal bar. "Whew!" he shrieked at the cold touch. He stepped up on the first step as well, getting himself elevated to climb. When he lifted his hand up from the bar though, it felt stuck, so he lifted it with more force. It resulted in skin getting torn from his hand. The metal was too cold to touch bare handed, Copper jumped off the ladder and waved his injured hand in vain. "Oooohhh.. thhhhhsss" he gasped in pain.

He quickly looked around and examined himself to see if he could somehow aid himself in climbing up. He didn't wear gloves like most trainers, and he didn't have a coat or towel to wrap around his hands while climbing. After pondering about it for several minutes, he finally reached down and grabbed the base of his shirt. With both arms he pulled it up and over his head, revealing his bare torso, which covered in goosebumps when it became exposed to the cold air.

His shirt was placed around his hands and then he rested them down on the metal bars. Luckily, the shirt shielded his skin from the cold metal, and he was able to climb. Each step was an endurance, and the awful chilling air made his torso shiver violently. It was as if millions of needles were stuck in a blanket, and that blanket was being not only wrapped around him, but squeezing him as tightly as possible.

His mouth, dried to the brim, and lungs just begging for air now, at about two thirds of the way up, he felt his brain nearly shut down. Not enough oxygen for full use of it. The room seemed to darken, and all that existed was he an the rest of the ladder. He felt his cold muscles weaken and he fell back away from the ladder, only to be stopped by his dead hand grip on the bars.

He swung idly for a moment before it seemed his brain restarted itself, and he was back in action. Eyebrows furrowed an he looked up towards the higher level, which was an arms length away.

He reached up again, and again, gripping each bar through his shirt he had removed to use as shielding from the cold metal. Finally, once he reached the upper level, he fell to his knees and slouched forward with fatigue.

His shirt had nearly solidified from the cold, forming into a hard shape that nearly resembled its form while wrapped around the bars. Copper weakly pulled it and attempted to mend it back into its original shape so he may be able to slip it on. When he did so, the fabric was so cold, it felt he was putting on a thin layer of ice as a shirt, over his already blue hued torso.

He closed his arms around himself and sat that, huddling for warmth, rubbing his hands up and down against his arms to produce friction, and ultimately heat, but there was only so much he and his current line up of Pokémon could do.

Then, he looked up, and there was a Jynx, the same that had chased him down into the hole in the first place. It was staring at him with worry, but once the eye contact was made, it charged forward at him, icing its fist and preparing itself for a harsh icy attack.

Then a blazing fireball flew by. It all felt like time was moving in slow motion. A heat so wonderful, so warm and loving had strolled passed him and for a moment, he felt a sense of comfort. It was short lived though, as the ember crashed into the incoming Jynx, sending it flying back into the wall behind it, knocking it out.

Copper turned his head to see the attacker, and it was none other than Charmeleon, and Allen standing behind it. The other Jynx was laying there as well, burnt to a crisp.

"Oh there you are." Allen said once spotting Copper.

"Y-yeah..." Copper responded with a heavy shiver an a weak smile. His lips were so cold, it was hard to move them into a smile, but he fought against the resistance and managed a small grin.

"Come on, we're nearly at the exit. Blackthorns just out this tunnel" said Allen, who seemed still entirely unaffected by the cave's harsh element.

Copper simply nodded and pushed himself up to his feet slowly, then proceeded to follow Allen again. His steps at first were wobbly, but he managed to get into a forward stride besides his white haired companion, and they walked until finally reaching the exit of the cave, and into Blackthorn City.


End file.
